Sligo Rovers striker Wilson Waweru has been named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for July, after a stellar month in which he hit five goals for the Bit O'Red.
Sligo won all four of their matches in July, a run which saw them climb as high as fourth in the Premier Division and progress in the FAI Cup.
The former Galway United striker played a crucial role in that sequence - netting five times in total, including a hat-trick against Cobh Wanderers in the cup. He also bagged the opening goals in victories over Bohemians and Galway .
His strike against the Tribesmen was a stunning right-foot volley from the edge of the area that left goalkeeper Brendan Clarke well beaten.
The 23-year-old forward has emerged as John Russell's preferred option at centre-forward over the summer after Max Mata left the club at the end of his loan spell.
Waweru won the vote of SWI members, narrowly holding off teammate Ollie Denham who finished second in the poll. Drogheda United striker Douglas James-Taylor came third.
He and Denham were the fourth and fifth Sligo players to be nominated for POTM this season, after Mata, Simon Power and Ed McGinty. Waweru is the first Sligo player to win the award in two years with Aidan Keena having claimed the prize in July 2022.
Speaking after receiving his award, he said: “It’s a great achievement for me to get (the first) proper award I’ve ever gotten in my career, especially since I was in the Premier Division, so it’s just a great achievement for me.
“Last month, how many goals did score? Five goals I think, three of them – a hat-trick I got – was in the cup which was my first hat-trick ever in my whole career. I was happy with that. Obviously,
I scored another goal against Bohs… they were big results for us and I’m just delighted to help out the team, and more so receive the award.”
On his goal burst with an in-form Bit O’Red who have climbed up the table of late, Waweru added: “It just comes down to training, it starts from the training ground. You keep banging in goals in training, when it comes to matchday you just bring it on to the pitch and it will just flow like that, week in week out. You just have to get your head screwed on in training and then that will flow into the match.”
The six-man shortlist for July's Player of the Month award was made up of Cathal O'Sullivan of Cork City, Bohemians' winger Dayle Rooney (Bohemians) and Shelbourne's Kameron Ledwidge.
Advertisement
